Send us Fan Mail Andrew Weiss, Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, reveals how Vladimir Putin rose from mediocre KGB officer to Russian leader through a series of accidents and opportunities rather than strategic brilliance or espionage expertise. • Putin was a mid-level KGB officer who never achieved high rank before being chosen as Yeltsin's successor precisely because he seemed controllable • The image of Putin as a master spy was deliberately cre...